Shot gun sighting device



SEARCH ROOM A ril 20, 1965 H. A. CALLIHOE SHOT GUN SIGHTING DEVICE Filed Feb. 16. 1961 United States Patent 3,178,824 SHOT GUN SIGHTING DEVICE Herbert A. Callihoe, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, assignor of fifty percent to Trans Alberta Holdings, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a corporation of Canada Filed Feb. 16, 1961, Ser. No. 89,678 Claims. (CI. 33-51) My invention relates to new and useful improvements in sighting devices for guns, particularly shot guns and the like, normally using conventional shot gun shells which discharge a plurality of pellets or the like in a spread pattern.

Conventional shot guns, when used for duck shooting and the like, present considerable difficulty t0 the average hunter inasmuch as three common faults usually occur during the firing of said guns particularly in what is known as Pass shooting.

These faults are (l) The bird is not led enough; that is the gun barrel is not kept moving at a large enough angle in front of the bird.

(2) The hunter does not follow through when shooting; that is he does not keep the gun barrel moving at the correct lead angle during and after the trigger is depressed.

(3) The hunter does not shoot high enough; that is most of the shot pattern is directed below the bird.

Of these three faults the first two are the most serious with the second fault giving the average hunter the most trouble.

The reason for this is that all hunters know that you must lead more for a fast flying bird than for a slow flying bird and that they must keep the gun barrel moving during and after the shot has been fired.

However, there appears to be a psychological freezing at the point of pulling the trigger under which circumstances the following may occur.

If we presume that the hunter is shooting at a bird flying at right angles to you and at a range of 40 yards with the bird flying at a speed of 55 miles per hour, this means that the bird moves approximately 8 feet in A of a second which is the minimum time required to depress the trigger.

If you had the correct lead to begin with and if the gun is frozen when the shot is fired at the bird, the bird would fly 8 feet beyond the arrival point of the shot gun pattern.

Ducks, because they fly at such a great range of speed (between 40 to 75 miles per hour) and various angles in relation to the hunter, are among the most diflicult wing shots to make. When, pass shooting that is when ducks are in full flight overhead, you must first attempt to judge the speed of the flock. While it is not essential that this speed judgment be down to the closest mile per hour, which is almost impossible to do anyhow, it is essential to have some idea of the flying speed.

1 It is known that at 40 yards distance, a full choke shot gun has a killing pattern with a diameter of approximately 42 inches.

Suppose that your estimated speed of the flock of ducks is 60 miles per hour, I have designed my sight so that the edge of the panel is of sufiicient distance from the barrel so that if the lead bird in the flock is lined up with the edge of the sighter, and providing that the hunter correctly follows through during firing, it will be possible to hit the bird that you sighted on even if the flock were flying anywhere from 48 to 72 miles per hour as will hereinafter be illustrated.

The principal object and essence of my invention is therefore to provide a substantially elliptical transparent panel attachable adjacent the end of the shot gun barrel and being provided thereon with substantially elliptical spaced indicia and radially extending lines, the former being used for the judgment of speed and the lines to assist in the follow through angle of the firing.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is readily adaptable for attachment to either single or double barrel shot guns.

A yet further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which, being transparent, does not interfere with the view of the hunter sighting along the barrel or barrels.

A yet further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which can be attached and detached from the gun barrel Without alteration to said gun barrel.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is extremely simple in construction, economical in manufacture, and which is particularly suitable for use for the purpose for which it is designed.

With the foregoing objects in view, and such other objects and advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front end view of my device upon a single barrel shot gun, the barrel being sectioned in this view.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary view of my device similar to FIGURE 1 but shown upon a double barrel shot gun.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of the muzzle end of a shot gun barrel with my device in situ.

FIGURE 4 is an end view of the attaching sleeve.

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of FIGURE 4.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

In the development of this sighter, certain arbitrary facts were taken into consideration.

As mentioned earlier, all wing shot hunters know that you must lead a bird in flight when firing. The amount of lead necessary has been calculated for this device, under the assumption that the hunter is firing at a bird flying at right angles to you and at a distance of 40 yards. 40 yards was used for calculating because in pass shooting, hunters shoot at ranges of 25 to 55 yards and 40 yards is about the average range desirable.

The muzzle velocity of the average shot gun shell varies from 1100 feet to 1400 feet per second depending upon the quality of shells used. The velocity has decreased almost 20% at the 40 yard range and it was therefore decided to use an average velocity of 1200 feet per second. This velocity equals 40 yards in A of a second and if a bird is flying at right angles to the hunter at 60 miles an hour it will be flying at 2.9 yards per 0 of a second.

Thus it is known that it takes of a second for a shot to reach a bird who is flying 2.9 yards in this of a second.

The average length of a shot gun barrel is 28 inches. However the distance from the eye of the hunter to the tip of the barrel is approximately 37 inches and it was decided to design the sighter so that if it is placed 2 inches from the muzzle end of the barrel, the sighter will be approximately 35 inches from the eye of the hunter.

It will therefore be seen that the equation to calculate the amount the bird must be led under the foregoing conditions is i 40 35 Therefore x equals 2.54 inches.

Thus as an example, the length of the sighter is double this amount or approximately 5 /6 inches.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the lead necessary for other birds flying at speeds for example 45 miles per hour and for example, 30 miles per hour, will be percentages of this calculated amount.

The device has been designed for use for firing at birds covering a band of angle from 55 to 75 which covers the majority of pass shooting.

I have found, by using trigonometric functions, that points plotted on a graph from sightings of a simulated path of a bird flying parallel to the ground and which would pass the hunter at right angles at an angle of 65 to the ground, formed an arc in the lower quadrant of the graph which, when the same are was continued in the other three quadrants of the graph, indicated an ellipse which had a minor axis of approximately 7 of the distance of the major axis.

Proceeding therefore to describe my sighter, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings in which it will be seen that the sighter comprises a substantially elliptical panel 10 preferably made of transparent plastic. Although the panel is shown to be elliptical in shape, nevertheless it will be appreciated that it could, if desired, be rectangular providing the elliptical indicia hereinafter to be described, are inscribed upon this planar panel.

The panel 10 is cut away upon the lower side 11 thereof thus forming the angulated gap area 12 bounded by two side edges 13 and these side edges converge towards the central area of the panel where they terminate in a partial aperture 14 which permits the sighter to be placed upon the gun barrel as will hereinafter be described.

The aforementioned FIGURE 1 illustrates the construction of the sighter if it is desired to use same on a single barrel shot gun as illustrated by the reference character 15.

If, however, a double barrel gun such as that shown in FIGURE 2 and illustrated by the reference character 16 is to be used, then the aforementioned partial aperture 14 will be of such a configuration to pass around the two barrels of the double barrel shot gun.

A resilient sleeve member 17 is formed having an internal diameter sufficient to permit same to he slid over the barrel and this sleeve is shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5. FIGURE 2 illustrates a sleeve 17' also formed of resilient material but in this instance it will be substantially oval when viewed in end elevation.

In any event, a diagonally situated annular groove 18 is formed around the outer surface 19 of the sleeve, said groove being adapted to receive the edges of the partial muzzle end 20 of the shot gun barrel 15 and the lower side 11 of the panel inclines towards the muzzle end.

Purely as an arbitrary figure, I have found that the angle of inclination of the panel from the perpendicular is preferably approximately 15 degrees. When the term from the perpendicular is mentioned, it is assumed that the perpendicular is a line drawn at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the shot gun barrel 15.

The inclination of the panel from the perpendicular prevents glare from the panel from reaching the eye of the hunter sighting the gun and that as long as the angle does not exceed 30", very little distortional effect results.

In order to retain the sighter panel 10 within the annular groove 18 on the sleeve 17, I provide a resilient link 21 anchored by one end thereof to an eyelet 22 adjacent the junction of the side edge 13 with the partial aperture 14.

The opposite end 23 of the resilient link is provided with a hook 24 adapted to be engaged within a further eyelet 25 upon the opposite side of the panel as clearly illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2. When the hook is engaged within the eyelet 25, it embraces the sleeve and holds the panel into position within the groove.

Referring back to the elliptical sighting line, in this embodiment the outer edge 26 of the panel acts as the maximum lead indication normally required by the average hunter.

Further elliptical lines 27 and 28 engraved upon the surface of the panel are for the aforementioned flying speeds of miles per hour and 30 miles per hour respectively.

The ellipses 26, 27 and 28 give the amount of lead necessary for birds flying either at right angles to the line to the hunter or, at birds approaching or flying away from the hunter at different angles and it is for this reason that the distance between any point on the ellipses and the central locus, vary depending upon the angle.

The radial lines 29 are indicia engraved upon the surface of the panel 10 and assist the hunter in following through the bird at the correct angle.

As hereinbefore mentioned, with the sighter designed along the lines indicated, a bird flying at right angles at 40 yards distance should be hit, if it were flying in the speed range of 48 to 72 miles per hour. The reasons for this are as follows.

A bird flying at miles per hour flies about 2.9 yards or 104.4 inches in M of a second.

The killing pattern of the average shot gun shell at 40 yards, and assuming a full choke shot gun, is approximately 42 inches in diameter.

Therefore if 60 miles per hour represent 104.4 inches flying distance in A of a second, 83.4 inches (one edge of the shot pattern) represents a flying speed of 47.9 miles per hour.

The opposite edge of the shot pattern, namely 125.4 inches represent 72.1 miles per hour, so that it will therefore be seen that if the correct lead is given as per the sighting device, and if the hunter follows through during firing, the bird will be hit at 40 yards irrespective of the flying speed between the above mentioned ranges.

It will also be appreciated that if the bird is flying at an angle then the shot gun shell pattern will be even larger than at right angles due to the obliqueness of the angle of flight with the cone of fire.

The radial extending lines 29 are also a guide to sighting if the birds are flushed and are righting from the ground or, alternatively, when the birds are landing.

In summary, the method of operation is as follows.

First estimate the birds speed and then select the most logical speed ellipse. Fire when the bird is in range so that the speed ellipse automatically gives you the correct lead under the majority of circumstances.

Ensure that suflicient follow through is given when the shot is fired.

The sightings at or between the ellipse 27 and the ellipse 26 are best for ducks in full flight, sightings around the ellipse 27 are best for flushed upland game flying away from you and the sightings on the ellipse 28 are designed primarily for crows and magpies, and the like.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A device to assist in the sighting of shot guns and the like and adapted to be secured to the shot gun barrel; comprising in combination a planar transparent panel, fiyingspeed and direction of flightindicia on said panel, and means cooperating between said panel and the associated barrel to detachably secure said panel to said barrel in the desired position thereon, said means includes a substantially centrally located aperture formed through said panel, a resilient sleeve slidable over said associated gun barrel, and an annular groove formed around the outside of said sleeve, the edges of said aperture fitting into said groove.

2. The device according to claim 1 in which said flying speed indicia are elliptical, said direction of flight indicia diverging outwardly from a common locus in the form of radially extending lines.

3. The device according to claim 1 in which said planar sheet is cut away on the lower side thereof, thus forming a pair of spaced edges converging substantially towards the center of said panel and terminating in a partial aperture, the edges of said partial aperture fitting into said groove.

4. The device according to claim 2 in which said planar sheet is cut away on the lower side thereof, thus forming a pair of spaced edges converging substantially towards the center of said panel and terminating in a partial aperture, the edges of said partial aperture fitting into said groove.

5. The device according to claim 1 which includes resilient detachable means spanning the junction of said side edges with said aperture and adapted to retain said panel on said sleeve.

6. The device according to claim 2 which includes resilient detachable means spanning the junction of said side edges with said aperture and adapted to retain said panel on said sleeve.

7. The device according to claim 3 which includes resilient detachable means spanning the junction of said side edges with said aperture and adapted to retain said panel on said sleeve.

8. The device according to claim 4 which includes resilient detachable means spanning the junction of said side edges with said aperture and adapted to retain said panel on said sleeve.

9. The device according to claim 2 in which said panel is attached to said barrel at an angle inclined from the longitudinal axis of said barrel whereby the upper portion of said panel above said barrel inclines away from the muzzle end of said barrel and the lower portion of said panel below said barrel, inclines towards the muzzle end of said barrel.

10. The device according to claim 3 in which said panel is attached to said barrel at an angle inclined from the 4 longitudinal axis of said barrel whereby the upper portion of said panel above said barrel inclines away from the muzzle end of said barrel and the lower portion of said panel below said barrel, inclines towards the muzzle end of said barrel.

11. The device according to claim 4 in which said panel is attached to said barrel at an angle inclined from the longitudinal axis of said barrel whereby the upper portion of said panel above said barrel inclines away from the muzzle end of said barrel and the lower portion of said panel below said barrel, inclines towards the muzzle end of said barrel.

12. The device according to claim 5 in which said panel is attached to said barrel at an angle inclined from the longitudinal axis of said barrel whereby the upper portion of said panel above said barrel inclines away from the muzzle end of said barrel and the lower portion of said panel below said barrel, inclines towards the muzzle end of said barrel.

13. The device according to claim 6 in which said panel is attached to said barrel at an angle inclined from the longitudinal axis of said barrel whereby the upper portion of said panel above said barrel inclines away from the muzzle end of said barrel and the lower portion of said panel below said barrel, inclines towards the muzzle end of said barrel.

14. The device according to claim 7 in which said panel is attached to said barrel at an angle inclined from the longitudinal axis of said barrel whereby the upper portion of said panel above said barrel inclines away from the muzzle end of said barrel and the lower portion of said panel below said barrel, inclines towards the muzzle end of said barrel.

15. The device according to claim 8 in which said panel is attached to said barrel at an angle inclined from the longitudinal axis of said barrel whereby the upper portion of said panel above said barrel inclines away from the muzzle end of said barrel and the lower portion of said panel below said barrel, inclines towards the muzzle end of said barrel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,988,984 1/35 Nyberg 3349.2

FOREIGN PATENTS 67,400 7/48 Denmark. 211,952 3/41 Switzerland.

ISAAC LISANN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE TO ASSIST IN THE SIGHTING OF SHOT GUNS AND THE LIKE AND ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO THE SHOT GUN BARREL; COMPRISING IN COMBINATION A PLANAR TRANSPARENT PANEL, FLYING SPEED AND DIRECTION OF FLIGHT INDICIA ON SAID PANEL, AND MEANS COOPERATING BETWEEN SAID PANEL AND THE ASSOCIATED BARREL TO DETACHABLY SECURED SAID PANEL TO SAID BARREL IN THE DESIRED POSITION THEREON, SAID MEANS INCLUDES A SUBSTANTIALLY CENTRALLY LOCATED APERTURE FORMED THROUGH SAID PANEL, A RESILIENT SLEEVE SLIDABLE OVER SAID ASSOCIATED GUN BARREL, AND AN ANNULAR GROOVE FORMED AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF SAID SLEEVE, THE EDGES OF SAID APERTURE FITTING INTO SAID GROOVE. 